11–20 of 210 posts
In south Indian names: > Initials are often used to shorten the name. A fun complication to this is that the initial may be more than one letter in English, taking the first consonant as it is in the source language (which uses an alphasyllabary), which may correspond to more than one letter in the Latin script; for example, “Ch. Naveen”.
Or for “Chiranjeevi,” usually used on wedding cards before the groom’s name.
However, I never knew exactly what to do instead, so I've always chickened out and went with the full "Dear @name" in the same order that I was given the names.
I hoped this would enlighten me as to the appropriate way to go, but I clearly overestimated the homogeneity of Asian name conventions!
The guidance on Japanese names is a bit simplistic. Yes, the Japanese government has announced a surname-first policy, but Japanese people are not bound by that policy. I have hundreds of name cards ( meishi ) that I have received from Japanese businesspeople, academics, and government officials over the years, and my rough estimate is that more than half who indicated their name in English on the card put their surn…
The title of the page is a "basic guide". Not a "comprehensive guide".
And they note that "the person’s preference is the most important thing to consider", which already covers your "but I have name cards in a different format" objection.
Westernized Chinese names seem to be missing. For example, in Hong Kong it's common to have both Chinese and Western first names. This leads to a complex rule: Using the Western name only: WESTERN-FIRST CHINESE-LAST Using the Chinese name only: CHINESE-LAST CHINESE-FIRST Using both: WESTERN-FIRST CHINESE-LAST CHINESE-FIRST (CHINESE-FIRST can be one or two characters). I think I got that right?
"Christian name" and "surname" is closer to what you want, but problematic for different reasons.
It should be "Western-given", "Chinese-given", "Chinese-family".
In south Indian names: > Initials are often used to shorten the name. A fun complication to this is that the initial may be more than one letter in English, taking the first consonant as it is in the source language (which uses an alphasyllabary), which may correspond to more than one letter in the Latin script; for example, “Ch. Naveen”.
“Ch.” could be short for “Choudhary,” a title. Or for “Chiranjeevi,” usually used on wedding cards before the groom’s name.
> keep in mind that in all cases, the person’s preference is the most important thing to consider. If in doubt, just ask!
I'd be quite interested to read the converse article -- it's true that British names usually go "First Last", it's the exceptions that are hard to deal with. I know several people who go by a middle name, several more who are known by a diminutive that starts with a different letter of the alphabet to their formal name. Or who are known by their last name, because seemingly every other family in the South East of England called their early-80s son "Andrew".
But for an article like the one here, the interesting part would be to find out which aspects I think may be less interesting, but are actually surprising to people who haven't grown up with them.
let me just state the order of names is not standardized in Europe either, darn Hungarians. (Nobody actually cares, but I do get constant confusion as a foreigner in Budapest because people sometime expect surname-first and sometimes given-first, trying to accomodate for me)
When I receive emails from @name I usually open my response with "Dear $name[0]" but I know better than to do that with Asian-sounding names. However, I never knew exactly what to do instead, so I've always chickened out and went with the full "Dear @name" in the same order that I was given the names. I hoped this would enlighten me as to the appropriate way to go, but I clearly overestimated the homogeneity of Asian…
- Andrew
(I think this is the original "Falsehoods programmers believe about ..."?)
I have a Indonesian Chinese friend who has strange name. She said her parents made up her name preventing the massacre against Chinese.